Fun while it lasted for Smyth

Des Smyth failed to qualify for next year's Open, but he might get there yet as a Seniors Tour player, writes Philip Reid

For Des Smyth, it was a great week while it lasted. At 49 years of age, and the oldest man to make the cut, he couldn't resist a little jest just minutes after rolling in his 284th shot of the championship. "What do you think? Am I a great prospect?" he asked. And, indeed, those practitioners on the Seniors Tour had better watch out when he becomes eligible for that late-life gravy train next February.

For a time, in the worst of the weather on Saturday, Smyth actually led the Open. Yesterday, though, with a self-stated target of finishing in the top-15 which would have earned him an exemption into next year's championship at Royal St George's, Sandwich, the veteran tour player slipped back down the field and, eventually, shot a final round 73 for level-par 284, sufficient for tied-28th position.

"Ah, I just hit too many bad iron shots," remarked Smyth. "I had my moments in the sun, and the rain too, and I enjoyed it. This was probably my worst round but you have got to take the fun side out of it.

"I've missed out on the target I set myself, to qualify for next year, but what the hell? I've had a great time. When you walk to the first tee, you get a buzz that stays with you all day."

While he has a special love for the British Open, above all tournaments, he doesn't plan on attempting to pre-qualify for Sandwich. Instead, by then, his focus will be on the Seniors Tour - he turns 50 in February - but his head was already thinking ahead.

"I'll probably set myself the target to win the British Seniors, and that way I'll get an exemption for the following year (Royal Troon in 2004)," said Smyth. "There's always another way of doing it, and you don't always have to take the hard road."

Smyth simply couldn't get into the flow of things yesterday. He got into perfect positions off the tee on the first four holes but walked off each green with nothing better than pars.

When he hit a poor chip on the fifth and scrambled for his par and then hit a "terrible" second shot on the sixth, it all became a battle for survival. The flow just wasn't there.

Rather than any despondency, however, there was a great deal of satisfaction with his 22nd appearance in the Open. The plan is to take two weeks off - "I have got to sort out the problem with my irons," he said - and, then, resume tournament play at the Wales Open.

There will also be a two week break for Darren Clarke, but his feelings in finishing a stroke further back than Smyth were less than contentment.

As Clarke walked up the 72nd fairway, the giant Rolex clock at the back of the 18th green ticked its way towards 1.26 p.m. Clarke, visor in hand and waving to the crowds in the grandstands, slowed his gait as he caught sight of the player walking by the clock on his way to the first tee. It was Padraig Harrington, and a sort of wry smile creased Clarke's face.

He knew that Harrington could still chase the dream but, for now, Clarke's time was up.

"This tournament was my number one priority for the year, my real focus, the one I was most looking forward to," said Clarke, who finished with a 69 for one-over-par 285, "and I went out yesterday and swung the club terrible. I was pathetic, even in the conditions. I was very, very poor, completely useless. They were probably the toughest conditions I've ever played in a major but, because I wasn't hitting it well, I wasn't able to hang on.

"It is difficult to go home positive after a tournament as bad as that and today I should have scored an awful lot better than I did.

"I played easily good enough for a 65 and walked off with a 69. It's disappointing."

Indeed, Clarke could take little solace with his game, or rather his ability to finish. "I'm hitting really good putts but they're not going in. I just have to be patient and, you know, when they're horse-shoeing out, you have to wait for them to go in. If they start going in on the right week, then . . ." and he tailed off, knowing that to pursue that train of thought wouldn't do him any good.

Clarke has played 10 of the last 11 tournaments and, with the British Open over, has decided to take a two-week break to recharge the batteries and spend time with his family before turning his attention to preparing for the US PGA at Hazeltine next month, which represents his last chance of a major this year.

"I had my moments in the sun, and the rain too, and I enjoyed it. This was probably my worst round but you have got to take the fun side out of it.